Cyclone relief for Essar Oil
New Delhi: In the first ever case of its kind, Essar Oil will get Rs 269 crore as claim against an advance loss of profit cover from the United India Insurance.

The company had taken the policy in 1996 for Rs 1,072 crore and paid a premium of Rs 27 crore. Essar Oil filed the claim after the devastating cyclone of 9 June 9 1998 that lashed Gujarat.

The company claimed compensation for loss of earnings resulting in loss in net profit from delays in the refinerys construction caused by the cyclone.

It also claimed compensation for physical damage to equipment and structures besides salaries and debt servicing charges for the period by which the project was delayed.

Essar Oil plans to use the money to part-finance its refinery project which has been dogged by shortage of funds, resulting in time and cost over-runs.
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Bajaj launches Pulsar
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto on Friday unveiled a stylish new motorcycle, Pulsar, as part of an aggressive campaign to close the gap on market leader Hero Honda Motors.

Bajaj forecasts the new Pulsar will boost its motorcycle sales volume more than 20 per cent and expand its market share.

Bajaj's motorcycle sales doubled to 68,179 units in October from a year earlier and the company hopes to sell more than 60,000 in November. Sales in April-October rose 44.31 per cent to 340,061 units.

The company claimed that Pulsar has been crafted to ensure maximum sales and popularity. The pricing is also aggressive. The basic version without an electric start retails for Rs 48,923, cheaper than rival Hero Honda's CBZ which retails for Rs 54,000-55,000.
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Govt invites EoI for 26% stake in IPCL
New Delhi: The government on Friday invited expressions of interest (EoI) from entities interested in acquiring 26 per cent stake in Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd (IPCL).

Companies or consortiums interested in participating in bidding are required to have combined networth in excess of Rs 250 crore as per the latest annual accounts and a satisfactory business and management track record.

The management control of the company would be transferred to the successful bidder for 26 per cent stake.

Subsequently another 25 per cent of government's equity would be sold off within a defined timeframe and the strategic partner would have the first right of refusal.
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BSNL launches cellphone service in Kolkata
Kolkata: BSNL launched its cellular mobile service in Kolkata on Friday.

Kolkata had two private sector mobile phone companies till now, Bharti Mobitel and Usha Martin Telekom, with a combined subscriber base of about 200,000.

BSNL will initially provide 15,000 cellphone connections.

Reliance group has won a licence to become the fourth cellular operator in Kolkata.
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Tele Atlas sets up centre in Noida
New Delhi: Tele Atlas on Friday unveiled its largest development centre outside Belgium at an investment of about $20 million.

The $70 million Belgian digital mapping company is also planning to recruit 100 professionals for its centre in Noida as a part of its expansion plan.

Tele Atlas is also preparing digital map for Delhi, though India did not offer market for digital mapping.
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Philips to sell Punjab Anand stake to parent
Mumbai: Philips India on Friday said its board has approved the sale to its parent, Dutch giant Royal Philips Electronics NV, of its stake in Punjab Anand Lamps Industries.

The stake is being sold at Rs 95 a share, the price Royal Philips offered in July for the 17.37 per cent of Punjab Anand owned by public shareholders.

Shares of Punjab Anand, an electric equipment maker, closed at 90 rupees on Friday on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
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New board for Madhavpura Bank
Ahmedabad: The central registrar of co-operative societies has constituted a new board of administrators for the Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank.

Jayrambhai Patel, chairman of Gujarat State Co-operative Bank, has been appointed as the chairman of the new board.

The new board consists of five members including the chairman and has already come into effect.

The other member of the board are: J P Meena, chief director (co-operation), as nominee of the central government, Atmarambhai Patel, chairman of Gujarat Urban Co-operative Bank Federation, R S Patel, chairman of the Ahmedabad City and District Co-operative Banks Union and R M Shah, in-charge CEO and general manager of MMCB.
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StanChart splits operations
Mumbai: The Standard Chartered group has bifurcated its consumer and wholesale banking operations in India into two totally separate lines of business to derive greater efficiencies.

StanChart group chief executive officer Rana Talwar said the consumer business in India would report directly to Mike Denoma, group executive director responsible for consumer banking worldwide while the wholesale banking operations would report directly to Kai Nargolwala, group executive director responsible for the wholesale bank business worldwide.
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Amul launches kadhi hits market
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, owner of the Amul brand, has launched Masti Kadhi priced at Rs 5 for a 500 ml pouch. Masti Kadhi has already proved to be a big hit in Anand, where daily sales have crossed the 1,000 litre mark.

Plans are now on to expand distribution to cover the rest of Gujarat in a month, and then go national in a phased manner.

Made from the whey, a by-product of cheese making, kadhi fits in with Amuls existing operations. Masti Kadhi consists of whey, chana dal powder, a mix of spices and a dash of ghee.
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Oman govt picks up 40% in LNG shipping
Mumbai: Enron has finally exited the LNG shipping joint venture it had formed to transport liquefied natural gas from Oman to Dabhol. The Oman government has picked up a 40 per cent in the JV,Greenfield Holding Company.

The majority stake holder, Mitsui OSK Lines of Japan, has also offloaded a 20 per cent stake in favour of the Oman government.

The $220-m 'LNG Laxmi', built in Japan's Mitsubishi Shipyard in Nagasaki, was delivered last week.
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LIC proposes hike in equity investment
Mumbai: The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is considering a move to hike its own internal equity exposure limit from the existing 15 per cent of the equity capital of a company to 20 per cent for a clutch of 15 companies.

LIC is seeking the unanimous approval of the investment committee for both hiking the investment limit as well as the new private placement guidelines.
LIC is seeking to participate in private placements of equity and convertible debentures on merit, in view of the sagging secondary market liquidity following the rolling settlement and also the virtual absence of new offerings in the primary market.
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Blue Star board approves buyback plan
Mumbai: The board of Blue Star Ltd has approved a proposal for buyback of equity shares of the company up to a maximum price of Rs 75 per equity share. The company informed the BSE that the buyback will be made from the open market through the stock exchange.

The promoters, the Advani family, currently hold 27.49 per cent, with the public holding 49.88 per cent and a non-promoter corporate group holding 13.16 per cent, while the rest is held by financial institutions.

With an equity base of Rs 20.32 crore, the company will be able to buy back close to 17 per cent and even more of its paid-up capital, depending upon the scrip movement.
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TLL to hold 49% in insurance JV
Mumbai: Tube Investments of India Ltd (TII), a part of the Rs 3,900-crore Murugappa group, will hold 49 per cent in the groups joint venture insurance company.

The total investment for its insurance foray will be Rs 105 crore initially, of which 49 per cent would be contributed by TII. The remaining 51 per cent will be held by Cholamandalam Investment and finance Company Ltd (CIFL).
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Music World launches reward card
Bangalore: RPG groups Music World Entertainment Ltd has launched its consumer reward-cum-loyalty card - Masti Card - in Bangalore. The card will soon be launched in Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata.

Music World is targeting close to 10,000 cards in Bangalore in a three-month period. Following its recent launch in Chennai, the Masti Card has incidentally notched up close to 2000 users.
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TAFE unveils new 44 HP tractor
Chennai: Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd (TAFE) has unveiled a 44 HP tractor on a totally new platform to be launched in the first quarter of 2002. The company plans to launch two more models on the same platform six to eight months after that.

Unveiling the tractor, Samrat 4410, company chairman and managing director A. Sivasailam, said that in the last three years, TAFE has been putting in a lot of effort in developing new products, both for the domestic and export markets. The Samrat is a culmination of these efforts, he said.
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Merc-Benz India renamed
Pune: Mercedes Benz India Ltd , a 100-per cent subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG, has been rechristened DaimlerChrysler India Pvt Ltd.

The company was set up in 1995 as a joint venture between DaimlerChrysler AG (DCAG) and Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (Tata Engineering) for production and sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars mainly for the Indian market.

The partners had mutually agreed to convert MBIL into 100 per cent equity of DCAG, thus enabling both DCAG and Tata Engineering to pursue their own project plans and concentrate on core competence.
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Eicher to begin HCV production
New Delhi: Eicher Motors Ltd will commence pilot production of its heavy commercial vehicle in December.

Called 20.16, the six-cylinder, 150-horsepower truck will have a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 16.2 tonnes and a payload of 10.5 tonnes.

Eicher developed the vehicle mostly on its own, taking a bit of help from Austrias AVL for fine-tuning of the power train.
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Synergies Dooray plans new product line
Hyderabad: Synergies Dooray-Automotive Ltd is planning to launch a new product line for direct distribution in the US.

The automotive accessories company, which manufactures alloy wheels in partnership with Korean Dooray Corporation, is also exploring the possibility of entering the two-wheeler segment. It also plans to supply other aluminium parts to global OEMs.

Located in Visakhapatnam, Synergies Dooray has a production capacity of about 6 lakh wheels of varying sizes and designs to suit various car manufacturers. Its client list includes Daewoo, Hyundai, Kia, SSangyong, Audi and Mitsubishi.
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Vam Organic Chem changes name
New Delhi: Vam Organic Chemicals Ltd (VOCL) has been renamed as Jubilant Organosys Ltd. The re-branding exercise was undertaken to `move up the value chain' with a promise of `caring, sharing, growing'.

The Jubilant logo is a bird in flight designed to communicate the joy and freedom of life.

The Jubilant bird will also be used as the group logo for all the sectors of the Rs 1,000-crore newly-named Jubilant Corporation, an umbrella brand, consisting of activities in chemicals and biotechnology, information technology, food and ventures.
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Shaw Wallace tying up Kyndal
Mumbai: Shaw Wallace is entering into a strategic global alliance with the UK-based Kyndal International, the Scotch whisky company, for its spirits business.

The partnership is confined only to liquor and did not cover beer business.

The proposed venture with the global partner will involve a two-way traffic for their liquor brands. The partnership will be leveraged to access the overseas markets for Shaw Wallace brands while at the same time allowing international brands from the foreign partner to enter Indian markets utilising Shaw Wallaces marketing and distribution network.
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Titan targets rural market
New Delhi: Titan Industries plans to aggressively market its low-priced Sonata brand of watches in rural and semi-urban markets. The company has opened its first showroom in Bhopal and nine more showrooms are to be opened across the country by this fiscal.

The company plans to tap the rural and semi-urban potential in the wrist-watch market by opening ten franchisee showrooms by the year-end and two more will be opened in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
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Bharti Mobitel secures Rs 125 cr loan from Rabo
Mumbai: Bharti Mobitel has raised a term loan of Rs 125 crore from Rabo India Finance to meet its commitment towards capital expenditure, repayment of vendor credit and refinancing of short-term financing facility.

The term loan is for up to 78 months and the principal repayment will be made in 10 semi-annual equal instalments which will commence on April 22, 2003.

Meanwhile, Bharti Cellular, the wholly owned cellular arm of Bharti Televentures, is raising a term loan of Rs 250 crore from the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) to finance its new projects.
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